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BB0706
Cockups and much much more.
Wednesday
7th February 2007
Cockups
from Meal Fell
With
a name like “Great Cockup” it’s a must visit hill. However
one has to avoid the temptation to relate the happenings
of the day in similar terminology. So I will refrain
from further comment about the problems that we had
in identifying exactly where we were before we started
up the Burn Tod bridle path or indeed the difficulty
we had in identifying Little Cockup (mainly as the maps
did not agree) or the half team picture taken at what
we then thought to be the summit but Stan, being wiser,
refused to be associated with such a Cockup and headed
off to the proper summit. Or the subsequent full
team picture when I forgot that my lens was on zoom
so lost their feet!
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Half
the team at which Cockup?
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The
full team (minus feet) on Knott
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Having
got that out of the way I can reveal that this walk
was hardly about Cockups at all. That was just
a first port of call on a beautiful but very cold day
and following another early start. Meal Fell followed
and then to Great Sca Fell (to Tony’s amusement envisioning
telling his pals that he did Scafell from Skiddaw -
wow - respect!). The bitingly wind we had experienced
on Meal Fell had dropped so, with the bulk of the climbing
out of the way, we took an early lunch. From here the plan had been to
move on to Brae Fell but we were going so well that
we decided to detour to take in Knott
Blencathra
and Skiddaw from Knott
Back
to Great Sca Fell and the original plan; conquest of
Brae Fell from which we had intended to go direct to
Longlands Fell, it being a Wainwright and needed for
Bryan’s 3rd time round. However I could not understand
why its higher sister of Lowthwaite Fell was being ignored
(originally by Mr W and hence potentially by us) and
insisted that we first added that to the route before
completing the batch of six Ws.
From
there it was an easy, if quite steep, grassy descent
and whilst Tony and I were taking it steadily, chatting
away, Bryan and Stan decided to put on a masterclass
in synchronised downhill fellrunning. Despite
our invocations, neither put a foot wrong. We
regrouped at Longlands, on the Cumbria Way. The
road back was surprisingly undulating but other than
the four mad dogs that contemplating savaging us as
they rushed from Stockdale and the wondrous pinkiness
of Orthwaite Hall, it was uneventful.
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The
Cockups
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All
day long we had been treated to magnificent
views and mostly to bright sun (albeit at
times with a biting sub zero wind). This
was my first visit to these Uldale Fells
beyond Skiddaw and it was quite memorable.
It made quite a change from the previous
outing, BB0705,
the steepness of that route being
visible this time as we returned over Dunmail
Raise.
And
if you want to read about real Cockups whilst
out walking, I suggest you turn to the second
stage of the
Mrs’
Dales Diary !
Don,
7th February 2007
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Distance:
10.0 miles according to Bryan's GPS downloaded into
MemoryMap and 8.9 miles according to my plotting in
Anquet.
Height
climbed: 2,628 feet according to Anquet.
Wainwrights:
Great Cockup, Meal Fell, Great Scar Fell,
Knott, Brae Fell, Longlands Fell
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BOOT
boys
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Click on the photos for an enlargement or related large
picture.
This page describes a 2007 adventure of BOOTboys, a loose group of friends of mature
years who enjoy defying the ageing process by getting out into the hills as
often as possible!
As most live in South Lakeland, it is no surprise that
our focus is on the Lakeland fells and the Yorkshire Dales.
As for the name, BOOTboys, it does not primarily derive from an
item of footwear but is in memory of Big
Josie, the erstwhile landlady of
the erstwhile Burnmoor Inn at Boot in Eskdale, who enlivened Saint Patrick's Day
1973 and other odd evenings many years ago!
If you want to contact us, click on
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